Gold Declines 1.3%, Silver Falls 1.8% – March 10, 2010

by Bullion Prices Staff on March 10, 2010

US gold on Wednesday gave back early gains, falling to near $1,100 an ounce as future liquidation and less risk appetite were the order of the day. Other metals followed with declines, with silver diving the most at 1.8%.

In New York precious metals prices, April gold fell $14.20, or 1.3%, to $1,108.10 an ounce. The yellow metal ranged from $1,103.10 to $1,128.30. May silver ended down 32 cents to $17.018 an ounce April platinum slipped $6.70, or 0.4%, to $1,590.20 an ounce.

"We saw some liquidation on futures again, with more than 1 million ounces being sold," Christophe Jacot, vice president of FX and precious metals at EFG Bank, said on Reuters.

In PM London bullion prices, gold was fixed to$1,120.50 an ounce for a gain of $4.75. Silver rose 42 cents to $17.470 an ounce. Platinum settled $31.00 higher to $1,605.00 an ounce.

"Rekindled fears that yesterday’s Chinese news-induced bullish-tempering news may still be reverberating in the trading pits out there. In addition, and, ironically, jitters related to the same robust Chinese import data dented sentiment on the floors as players fretted that a 44.7% gain in inflows of ‘stuff’ into China might set off interest rate hikes by local official in an attempt to temper the once again fast-overheating economy," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc.

"Thus, it is now back to where (and when) these key currency pairs/triplets (USD-Euro-Yen) and a few others will be trending in the near-to-medium term. Gold will still take its cues from the movements in the above-mentioned yardsticks of value, while trying to sort out its own comfort level –with the added caveat that fundamentals still matter a heck of a lot, even if occasionally apparently ignored by spec players."

In related bullion news, American Silver Eagles broke the 1.5 million mark for March on Wednesday, according to the latest U.S. Mint sales figures. The Silver Eagle bullion coins advanced another 750,000 since last Wednesday — improving to 1,175,000 during the first ten days of this month. Year-to-date sales are now at 6,817,500.